Veterans
by DeadLight63
Summary: A group of Heavenly Host surviors has set up a pact to return to the school every so often to rescue new victims. But what will the next return have in store for them?
1. The Veterans

**A/N Okay so I have been on this binge with Corpse Party for weeks now, and I can't get this idea out of my head. Might as well get the first chapter down so I can focus on my other stories. I just wanna say, this one won't get many updates very quickly (Probably), so don't expect daily or even weekly updates. Also, I don't really have any idea as to what kind of names Japanese people have, so I'm just going to use standard ones that I hear or see a lot. Anyway, moving on.**

_Just before the events of "Corpse Party: Blood Covered"..._

The fifth trip. That was all that Mako Shiumati could think about. Two years ago, Mako and his friends had attempted a "Sachiko's Charm" after their favorite teacher announced he was going back into the army. Him, and nine other friends had done the charm with their teacher. Of course, at the time, none of them believed in that kind of thing, it was more or less a promise that the teacher would not be forgotten. But... Things went wrong. Horribly wrong. The friends found themselves in the Heavenly Host Elementary school, where reality was cut off, and ghosts from the past roamed it's otherwise empty, forsaken halls. Mako had awoken in a strange, unknown room. His only company were his two siblings, his twin sister Asami, and his older brother Yoshida. A group of friendly ghosts managed to help them through their ordeal, although Yoshida's sanity drained the longer he was in the school. It got to the point he almost killed Asami, and would have if Mako had not had the strength to kill him. He still felt guilt over killing his older brother, but it was necessary to save Asami. Eventually, they had managed to find the rest of their friends through a bizarre set of circumstances, although what had originally been ten people ended at six. What's worse... When they returned home, none of the dead were remembered. A year ago, it came to Mako's attention that Heavenly Host was still claiming victims, never to be seen or heard from again. How could he just let that stand? He knew how to get them out of there, wasn't it his duty to help them? After discussing it with his sister, and the other five survivors, including his teacher, they agreed to go back into the school together, searching for and rescuing any victims they found. On their third visit, a few ghosts had even volunteered to help them by giving them the ability to fight against the ghosts that intended to harm them.

"Are you ready?" He heard from the side. Looking to his right, Mako sees Asami, her black hair tied back into a pony tail. His hair was the exact same color as hers, although he had hazel eyes rather than blue ones. Headstrong, determined, and more than ready to gain some vengeance for the last run. On their most recent run, the group had managed to save six elementary school students, but at the cost of one of their own. Asami's love interest, Ichiro. Ichiro was a good friend of Mako's, and he had been devastated when he watched the undead janitor stab and maim him. They had carried him, barely alive, to the real world so he would be remembered, and to die comfortably. Asami was grief stricken, and didn't even talk to Mako for over a week. When she did come around, she was still devastated, and hardly interacted with anyone other than him. It was now three months since then, and they were ready to make another trip.

"Born ready. That janitor won't know what hit him." Mako said as he whipped out a pocket knife, twirling it masterfully in his fingers. With that, he stopped the knife, clutching it's handle. Looking over to his sister once more, she gives a nod of approval, and the two siblings enter their teacher's home. Already standing there is Mr. Machuda, Yumi Asaki, and Hiroshi Yukumada. Mr. Machuda was a very serious man, who had been honorably discharged from the service after taking three shots. He had a short, graying beard that barely came down off of his chin, with a matching mustache. His hair still retained most of it's original brown, but there was a noticeable amount of silver in it. Yumi was a year younger than Asami and Mako, but she was just as dedicated to their cause. She had brown hair that dropped to her shoulders, with fiery orange eyes. On her shoulders was a black backpack, identical to the ones Mako and Asami had brought. Each backpack contained food, water, clothing, and medical supplies. You never knew what you could get into over there. Hiroshi was the same age as the Shiumati twins, and had the same black hair. However, similarities stopped there. As where the Shiumati twins were executioners, Hiroshi was the moral support. His loveable personality made him an instant friend to just about anyone he met, including victims trying to find a way home. He had even managed to comfort and convince Asami into getting on with her life a month after Ichiro's death.

"You two are late." Mr. Machuda said with a skeptical tone. He rose from his sitting position, setting his back pack on the floor. Mako nodded.

"Sorry about that Mr. Machuda. We got caught in traffic. Won't happen again." Mako said with a nod of his head. Mr. Machuda observed him for a moment, then gave a small smile. Despite being a hard, unforgiving man, Mr. Machuda was not above smiling and showing emotion. To those he cared about. He considered every single one of his students as equals to him, but the four students around him now were like family. Mako knew this, and felt the exact same way about his teacher.

"Let's go. Those victims won't save themselves." Asami said as she marched over to the center of the living room. Their teacher's house was a mix of white walls and blue carpeting, with a good amount of furnishing. A majority of it was older, from when he was younger, in his 20s. But some of it was relatively new, gifts from the students every time he went off into battle. Asami tossed her back pack onto the couch in the corner of the room, then opened the front pocket. Mako sighed. Even if she said she was over Ichiro, Mako still worried about his sister.

"Got it. Come in close everyone." Asami said as she pulled out a paper doll, ready to begin.

"Whoa, aren't we getting a little ahead of ourselves?" Hiroshi asked as he stepped forward, arms raised. Asami shot him a look, then sighed.

"Sorry..." She said as she rubbed the back of her head. Asami always began a bit too fast for the others. Hiroshi and Yima thought it was because she was ready to get started. But Mako knew the truth. Beneath all of her bravery, will, and sheer ferocity, was a frightened girl who wanted to get the ordeal over with as soon as possible. Mako could understand that, as he had hated being there the first few times as well. Fortunately, he had grown accustomed to the world. It was the people dying there that shook him. Maybe that was what got to Asami too.

"Alright, does everyone remember the plan?" Mr. Machuda asked. Picking up his backpack and slinging it over his shoulder, the leader of the group watched as each member nodded or spoke their approval. With that, Asami pulled out the paper doll, closing her eyes. Mako closed his eyes as well, taking a deep breath. This was it, they would perform the chant incorrectly on purpose, that way they would return to that world.

"Ready?" Mr. Machuda asked with his stern, commanding voice. Mako nodded, but from across the way, he heard a faint squeak. Opening his eyes, he looks over to Yima, who is shaking.

"Yima, what's wrong?" He asked calmly. Looking over to him, Yima gazes at him with a slight hint of fear in her eyes, losing the look of determination that had filled it only moments before.

"I'm nervous... If things go as we think they will..." She began.

"We'll all be on our own this time. No one can help us." She said with a tremble in her voice. Asami stepped closer to her, giving her a smile and a reassuring look.

"We'll be reunited before we know it. Besides, you still have the spirits to help. They won't abandon you." She reassured. Yima nodded, and stared up, fierce determination reentering her face. Asami lost her smile as well, staring straight ahead.

"Alright, here we go." Mr. Machuda said, closing his eyes once more. Mako released another deep breath, and closed his eyes.

"Sachiko we beg of you..." Mr. Machuda began. His words were quickly followed by Hiroshi's... then Yima's... then Asami's... then finally... Mako's. Opening his eyes, he looked at his classmates and teacher, asking the unsung question he knew they were all thinking. Each of them nodded in response. With a deep breath, they all closed their eyes again, and repeated the words twice more. They had done it wrong, of course, but that was the point. Mako had done this enough times to know how this worked. Now the only thing to do was rip the doll. Asami held out the doll, watching as the others steadily took a piece of it.

"For Ichiro." She said. Looking up, facing the eyes of her brother, she silently asked for approval of her words. He smiled and nodded.

"For Ichiro." He repeated. Mr. Machuda smiled.

"It's like he's still with us." He said. For a moment, the entire group smiled in unison, all united by the thought of fighting for not just the victims, but a fallen friend. One who had given his life for their cause. Just as quickly as they came though, they vanished.

"One..." Mr. Machuda said. Mako eased his breathing.

"Two..." Mako dug his nails deeper into the doll, just as Mr. Machuda was about to say three, he paused.

"Everyone has their knives right? No one's unarmed?" He asked with concern in his voice. Mako chuckled. Even now, their teacher wanted to make sure everything was ready to go. No sense in not being too ready as he liked to say. The students all nodded, patting where they had hidden their knives. Mr. Machuda nodded, and stared back down at the doll.

"Three!" He shouted. With haste, Mako withdrew, pulling with all his might on the paper doll. A solid rip confirmed his efforts. The rest of the group also had their pieces, and observed them for a moment.

"Put them somewhere safe, we can't risk losing them like we did on our second time." Mr. Machuda said, quickly sliding his into a pocket on his shirt. Yima placed hers inside a hair clip she was wearing, keeping it snuggly attached to her cranium. Hiroshi placed his in his pocket in his pants, while Asami placed hers in her backpack. Mako placed his in his pants pocket, like Hiroshi did.

"Be careful okay Asami?" Mako said with care in his voice. Asami smiled.

"You too bud." She said. Mako nodded and looked over to Yima.

"I'll be okay." She said. The look in her eyes said otherwise, but he didn't argue. Hiroshi was still fine, smiling as he looked over to Mr. Machuda.

"Bet I find you before you find me." He said with a smirk. Their teacher smiled.

"You're on." He said. Just then, the group felt a subtle rumbling, which slowly began to increase in intensity. Within seconds, the entire house began shaking violently, as pictures and pieces of the ceiling began to drop to the floor in a dusty mess.

"This is it!" Mr. Machuda shouted over the sound of something breaking. Mako looked over to Asami one last time, and mouthed the words "I love you." Asami nodded and mouthed them back. The ground cracked and gave way to a black abyss, expanding ever so slowly as pieces of the carpet gave way, falling into the deep pit.

"Meet up when you can! Good luck!" Hiroshi shouted as he sprinted forward and leaped.

"GERONIMO!" He shouted, steadily growing quieter over the ferocious roar of the trembling house.

"Be careful you guys!" Yima shouted. With one final inhale, she leaped into the hole, screaming as she did. That just left Asami, Mako, and Mr. Machuda.

"Remember, don't read the notes!" Their teacher said as he leaped. He grunted in anger as her began to fall, arms above his shoulders. Looking over to his sister one final time, Mako gave her one final nod and smile, as if to say he would see her soon. She nodded and jumped into the hole, giving out a battle cry as she did. Mako breathed heavily for a few moments, as the debris of the house fell all around him. With a roar, he launched himself into the air, and began his descent into the hellish world...


	2. Entering the School

Mako awoke slowly, shaking his head to clear himself. Even with all of his trips to and from the school, he never did get used to the first few moments. It wasn't frightening, it was just somewhat painful during his waking moments. Groaning, he pushed himself up to his feet, the wood floors beneath him creaking as he did. Looking around, he saw a number of damaged desks, as well a few chipped floorboards. The holes in the floor still carried the same eeriness that they had last time, adding to the effect of the ghost school. Among the wreckage of the school supplies, Mako could see thin traces of blood from a doorway, leading him to believe that victims were indeed in the same space that he was. Unfortunately, the blood was on the other side of the room, which was blocked off by the chairs and desks. Since they were seemingly stuck in the position that they were in, and unmovable Mako would have to take the long way around to get anywhere. Stepping forward, he casually removed his backpack, placing it on the ground in front of him. Opening it, he checked on his supplies, making sure that nothing had been broken or battered on the impact of the fall. Surely enough, everything had remained intact. Nodding to himself, he placed his backpack on his back and stood up. If memory served, the ghost that had agreed to help was a few classrooms down, possibly where the new victims were as well. Then again, he probably wasn't going to be THAT lucky.

Stepping outside of the classroom, Mako looked around the empty halls, seeing even more holes, a few buckets, chipped paint, and uprooted floorboards. The scent of blood and urine were imminent in the air, making Mako cringe his nose briefly. Despite his efforts, he was never really able to get used to the smell. Pressing on, Mako walked down the hall until he came to a board connecting two sides of a hallway. Mako rose an eyebrow, kneeling down as he observed the wood. Normally, he would just jump over the gap, since it was never covered by a walkway of sorts before this. The board didn't look particularly strong, and Mako wasn't sure if it would support his weight. Cautiously, he placed his hand on the plank of wood and pushed down, surprised that he didn't hear it creak. Standing up, he observed it for a little while longer, then placed his right foot on top of the plank. It gave a small creak, but otherwise supported him. After he crossed the gap, he looked forward, the halls in front of him making a right turn. Readjusting his backpack, he made his way down the turn, where a busted door stood, hanging from one of it's hinges. Mako smiled. This was the room. As he stepped inside the room, he looked around, seeing that the room was darker than the rest of the school so far. He was pretty sure that would change with time, but it was still the darkest for now.

"Mako..." He heard a soft, somewhat sad voice say from the side. Turning his head, he saw a small, controlled blue fire sprouting from a skeleton that lay sprawled across one of the corners of the room. Mako nodded his head at the spirit, calmly walking over to it.

"Yeah, it's me." He said as he came to a stop in front of the spirit. While Mako never did learn the names of the spirits, as they never gave them, he had bonded with them. They had become a part of his team, his friends, those he trusted. In exchange for assitance, the spirits would be relieved of their pain as long as they were with anyone in Mako's company, although possesion would restore their pain. This prevented them from trying to take their bodies over, although they didn't want to to beign with anyway. Mako smiled and kneeled down, observing the spirit as it flickered and sparked it's fire across the room.

"It's good to see you pal. You been okay?"

"As good as I can be..." Mako frowned, remembering their predicament. He still felt sorry that there was nothing he could do to get those that had already died back home to be remembered and end their pain, but there was only so much that he could do. Not everybody was savable like that. Regardless, he had a job to do.

"Well, come on buddy. We have lives to save." Mako said as he stood up. Reaching down to his side, he pulled out his pocket knife, twirling it momentarily before holding it out to the spirit. Slowly, it began to move in a small beam onto the knife, making it glow a light, easy blue color. The knife ignited into a series of small flames, from the tip to the middle of the blade. The flames steadily continued across the knife, covering it in it's aura. Once the spirit was completely on the knife, it began to slowly make it's way up Mako's fingers, giving him a slightly painful burning sensation. Mako grit his teeth and breathed steadily, making sure to keep calm and collected as the spirit moved into him. His will would keep it from doing it's own, but it was still not natural to be invaded by a spirit. The pain soon ended, leaving a soothing feeling behind. Mako's entire hand was now giving off small, controlled blue flames, as well as pulsing blue every few seconds. He never really could get entirely used to that. Looking over his hand, he twirled his knife in his fingers masterfully, as he heard the spirit sigh in satisfaction. The voice made it clear that it was a male.

"Did you see any victims run by? Maybe even just heard something?" Mako asked as he began to walk outside the door, once again entering the barren, nearly empty halls of Heavenly Host.

"Yes, actually. Not to long ago two teenage girls spoke to me about this place, I didn't see which way they won't though. I'm sorry." The spirit said as Mako turned left, only to find a gap too large for even him to jump. Shaking his head, he turned the other way, where a passage way opened up to a flight of stairs, which could possibly be the direction the girls had headed. Exhaling, Mako shifted his backpack and made his way up the stairs, leading to more and more hallways...

...

Mako placed his hand to his chin in thought, attempting to figure out where the victims could have gone. Small puddles of blood were present in many of the rooms he was visiting, with most of them being no smaller than a drop or two. Shaking his head, he rested his arm on his knee, rubbing his chin as his mind processed the possibilities. He had seen blood on both floors, making it somewhat difficult to guess where the victims were as they could have been anywhere. A few doors were affixed to the wall. There wasn't a chance they could enter those, so that slightly lowered the possible areas. Still, it wasn't as easy as following a map.

"I'm stuck... I can't figure this out with all I'm getting." Mako said as he stood up and adjusted his backpack.

"Don't worry my friend. We can figure this out. Let's think for a moment. Where is the most recent blood?" The spirit said from within. Mako looked out one of the windows, though he already knew he wouldn't be able to see anything. Lowering his head slightly, Mako considered the blood he had seen. He wasn't an expert on it, but he could tell when blood was fresh and when it had been somewhere for sometime. If he remembered correctly, the blood he had seen when he first arrived was starting to dry, along with most of the blood on the first floor. Deducing that the first floor was most likely not where they were headed, Mako looked for the nearest stairs. Upon doing this, he came upon a large blood splat on the ground, much bigger than the ones that had come before. The blood seemed to be somewhat darker than the other traces of it, leading Mako to believe that it was from some other closed space.

"Poor sap... They're either dead or in serious pain judging from the size of that thing..." He said as he knelt beside the blood, examining it very carefully.

"It's not from this space. It shouldn't be of our concern." The spirit said calmly. Mako nodded, and stood from his position. He soon found some stairs, and slowly climbed up them in order to get to the next floor. It didn't contain much, just a hallway that led to some old bathrooms. As he began to search around, he heard what sounded like some muffled screaming, as though coming from the other end of the school. Raising his eyebrow, he slowed his breathing, curious as to what he had heard. Holding his breath and closing his eyes, he focused on the sound, hoping to hear more so he could figure out where it was coming from. Instead of screaming, however, he heard a desperate cry;

"Naomi! Please don't do this!" Mako's eyes shot open, instantly aware of what was happening. Wasting no time at all, he shot down the hallway, praying that he wasn't too late to stop anything from happening. He came to the entrance of two doorways, one reading boys, and the other one reading girls. Looking to each one, he tried to determine which one would have the victims, before he heard another scream coming from the girls room. Running inside, he saw what looked like a possesed girl forcing a noose around another one, who seemed to be too frightened to fight back. Growling, Mako launched himself at the one girl, knocking her to the ground. Turning back to face the trapped one, he saw long hair that was begining to come undone, as well as brown eyes that were full of fear.

"Don't worry, you're gonna get out of this!" He shouted as he began to cut away at the rope around her neck. As he cut, the other girl, who had short hair, and another set of brown eyes, growled in anger and tried to punch Mako. Though he was able to catch the punch, she followed up with her other fist into his left jaw. Mako stumbled back as pain erupted in his jaw. Covering it with a hand, Mako caught another punch and shoved the girl away, knowing that she wouldn't be this aggressive unless being possesed. Before he could react, the girl ran him into the wall, briefly knocking the wind out of him. She tried to take his knife, but Mako managed to knee her in the gut, making her rear back in pain. Rushing over to the other girl, Mako quickly cut more of the rope, before another attack forced him to halt. The knife fell from his hands, landing besided the girl who was in teh noose. The possessed girl quickly launched another punch at Mako, though he was able to catch her fist and run her against the wall. He held her there, making her thrash and shout angrily.

"Naomi! Please! Come back to me!" Mako heard the other girl shout in a tearful voice. At this, the possesed girl stopped thrasing, as Mako could feel the spirit leaving him and enter the girl. At this, a red fire formed at the side of the girl, and the spirit reentered Mako. As the girl slumped to the ground, Mako breathed heavily, and walked back over to the other girl, who was tearing up while staring at Mako in fear.

"Easy... I'll explain as soon as you're free..."


End file.
